Announcing the 2026 Cove Competition! This year's theme is:

Read, Reflect, Review: Short Reflections from the CA's Professional Study Guide

The Cove Competition 2026 is open for submissions! This year, we’re challenging Army to get reading, thinking and writing.

Professional mastery demands continual learning. Professional reading should not be a passive activity. Rather, it should promote engagement with new ideas and prompt discussion with others about how lessons from different times, places and circumstances might apply to the challenges Army faces today. As members of the Army Profession, we have a responsibility to develop our professional expertise, challenge our assumptions and learn from the experiences and ideas of others.

Fortunately, the CA's Professional Study Guide gives us a way to do just that. Released in 2025, the CA Professional Study Guide is designed to support the continual development of Army's professional expertise and provide soldiers and officers with a proven pathway through our professional body of knowledge. You can find The Cove's primer on the Study Guide here.

Bringing together works covering leadership, command, strategy, military history, the realities of war and other aspects of the Profession of Arms, the Study Guide provides soldiers and officers with a curated foundation for their ongoing professional development.

So for Cove Competition 2026, we want you to choose a title from the Chief of Army’s Professional Study Guide, read it, and share your thoughts with us, and the rest of Army!

What We’re Looking For

This isn't a school book report.

We don't just want a summary of what happens in the book. Your review should demonstrate that you have engaged critically with the work and considered its relevance to you, your role, and the wider Army Profession. A strong submission will give readers enough context to understand the work, but its focus should be on your analysis, reflection and professional judgement.

You might consider questions such as:

  • What are the central ideas, arguments or lessons presented by the text/author?
  • What does the work offer members of today's Australian Army?
  • How does it contribute to our understanding of the Army Profession?
  • What lessons can soldiers and officers draw from it?
  • Are its ideas still relevant in the contemporary operating environment?
  • Did the work challenge or change the way you think about your profession?
  • Are there ideas or conclusions with which you disagree?
  • Who within Army would benefit most from reading it, and why?

Categories

Cove Competition 2026 has two categories – Officer and Other Ranks. Submissions will be considered within their relevant category.

Submission Guidelines

  • All submissions must be based on a text from the CA's Professional Study Guide that you have read.
  • Your submission should be a minimum of 500 words & comply with all other requirements set out by our Cove Submission Guidelines.
  • Keep your essay relevant and use facts to support your arguments where applicable.
  • Information must not be above the OFFICIAL level
  • Your essay must be your own, original work - no AI!
  • Submissions are to be made via our dedicated submission portal.
  • Be submitted by COB Wednesday, 30 September.

Get Reading, Get Writing!

This competition is open to all ranks, roles, trades and corps. Submissions need to be in by 30 September to be considered for judging.

Prizes

1st Place: Kindle e-Reader, Cove prize pack.
2nd Place: $100 Gift voucher, Cove prize pack.
3rd Place: $50 Gift voucher, Cove prize pack.

Judging & Judging Criteria

All submissions will be considered within their relevant categories and reviewed by the judging panel.

Reviews will be assessed on the quality of their analysis, engagement with their selected text, professional insight, originality, relevance to the Army Profession, and their ability to encourage further professional reading and discussion.

Good luck, we look forward to reading your submissions!